On Paper Wings

by Magan Vernon

  She sighed. “Yeah, well it doesn’t help when you’re a loser anyway.”

  “What? You’re not a loser! You’re an athlete! The softball team would be lost without you! And you totally have other friends.”

  “Yeah, but my other friends sided with Sarah.”

  “And these so-called friends can’t be friends with both you and Sarah?”

  She shrugged. “Guess not.”

  I rolled my eyes. “High school politics is such bullshit. I’d say that it gets better when you’re out of high school, but some people never grow up, and you don’t need those people in your life. Chin up, girl. It may suck right now to lose a friend, but eventually you’ll either make up or see that you’re better off without her, and I’m suspecting the latter.”

  “If you say so...”

  We pulled into Jackson’s lot. At least the party wasn’t at his sister Sarah’s, or I wasn’t sure I’d be able to get Britt to go. Not many people would force their little cousin to go to a party with them, but I couldn’t leave Britt alone. She’d been so depressed lately and hadn’t done much else except go to school, eat, and do homework. The girl needed some fun in her life.

  I parked behind a few cars and got out, breathing in the smell of the night air. There was definitely a bonfire and inhaling the fresh burning scent always reminded me of fall, even if it was way hotter than the fall weather I was used to.

  We followed the path to the back of the house where a large fire blazed and a few guys in plaid with cowboy hats stood around a keg. Real original with the cowboy costume. If it was even a costume.

  “Hey, you made it!” Dina pushed through a few cowboys and rushed over to me. She was also dressed in a plaid shirt with a cowboy hat. Another original costume.

  “Of course, we wouldn’t miss it.”

  She hitched her thumb behind her. “Blaine’s back by the fire. Is he wearing your daddy’s scrubs?”

  I laughed. “Yeah, well technically they’re mine.”

  She shook her head. “You don’t find that a bit awkward that your man is wearing your daddy’s old scrubs?”

  As if Blaine knew we were talking about him, he sauntered over, his deep blue eyes reflecting the light from the bonfire. The sea green scrubs molded onto him like a second skin, showing every bit of muscle underneath them. Luckily, he was wearing shorts underneath the scrubs, because they were so tight I’m sure he would have given everyone a show, if he didn’t end up ripping through the tight material by the end of the night anyway.

  “Not when he looks this good in them,” I said, appreciating the view.

  Blaine smiled before leaning in and placing a light kiss on my lips. “I’ve got something white that you can have, Miss Tooth Fairy.”

  I playfully swatted his chest. “Ew, that’s so gross.”

  “I’m going to get something to drink,” Britt muttered.

  “There’s some cola in the cooler by the door!” Dina yelled.

  I was pretty sure that Britt wanted something stronger, but I was going to make sure to keep an eye on her. I was sure that if I’d actually had friends that partied in high school, I may have drank, but I never actually did it until I was in college. I wasn’t about to nark on my little cousin for underage drinking, but I wasn’t going to let her get stupid either.

  “Is Sarah here?” I asked Dina.

  Dina shook her head. “Nope. Haven’t seen her yet. I’m assuming she’s with that pompous ass boyfriend of hers, and Jackson doesn’t fancy him coming around here much.”

  I nodded. “I haven’t met the guy, but from what I’ve heard...”

  “I didn’t know Sarah had a fella,” Blaine said, slinking in next to me and putting his arm around my waist.

  “Yeah, Shane DeFleur. Jackson knew his brother, Bobby, and said he was just as big of an ass as him,” Dina said.

  Blaine nodded. “Yeah, I think I remember Shane from school. Chubby little fucker with a chip on his shoulder.”

  Dina laughed. “Yep, that sounds like the guy.”

  “Is he the reason that Sarah hasn’t been around and Britt’s had such a stick up her ass lately?” Blaine raised his eyebrows.

  “You catch on quick there Blainey.” I laughed.

  He raised his hands. “Hey, I try and stay out of the gossip that all you southern women seem to flourish off of.”

  Dina rolled her eyes. “You love it just as much as the rest of the boys.”

  “Do not.”

  Dina put her hand on her hip. “Please. As soon as anything goes on in town, you can bet that the boys down at the sheriff’s office or the road crew know about it before any of the woman folk do.”

  “Yeah, but we keep it to ourselves, unlike y’all that feel the need to tell the whole town your business. Us men have a code of honor. We keep it between us.”

  “I’m sure Libby can get just about anything out of you,” Dina teased. “Won’t be too long before you’re taking her diamond shopping, and she’s finding out the secrets to your mama’s pralines.”

  I swallowed hard, widening my eyes as I felt Blaine’s grip tighten on me. We never, ever, talked about things like marriage or engagements. He had enough trouble committing to saying he loved me, and we hadn’t been together long enough to even consider the next step.

  Luckily, we were saved by Jackson sauntering over with two overflowing red cups. He handed one to Dina. “Now, woman, what are you gabbing about that has Blaine and Libby looking like they’ve just seen a ghost”/

  She took a sip of her beer. “Oh, nothin’. I was just giving Blaine a hard time about putting a rock on Libby’s finger.”

  Jackson nudged Dina. “Now don’t poke the sleeping bear. Blaine here has gotta move out of his mama’s house before he even thinks about moving up in the world or with a woman.”

  “You leave my mama out of this,” Blaine said, pointing at Jackson.

  “I’m just saying, your fixin to inherit your meemaw’s house when she kicks the bucket, so it’s about time you start thinking about moving out.” Jackson took a sip of beer ,and it was as if him and Blaine had an entire silent conversation in their stares.

  “Come on, Dina, let’s leave these two lovebirds be for awhile.” He nudged her.

  “Okay.” She shrugged. “Catch up with you later, Libby.”

  We stood there in silence for what seemed like forever. I wasn’t sure what I was supposed to say, and luckily, it was him who spoke first.

  “I was going to tell you about my meemaw’s...”

  I shrugged and tilted my head to look at him. “Doesn’t seem like there’s much to tell.”

  “She’s living in an old house up the road from my parents. She’s hooked up to an oxygen tank, but refuses to quit smokin her unfiltered Pall Malls while sitting on the front porch. You’ll probably meet her sometime, but she stopped coming to my parents as much when they told her she couldn’t smoke at the house.”

  I nodded. Blaine and I didn’t talk much about our families or our future together. I tried to just live in the now with him and not ruin what we had.

  He scratched the back of his neck with his free hand. “Anyway, as the only male left on the Crabtree side, besides my dad, my grandpa left the house to me in his will, so when she goes, it’s mine. I figured there was no sense in moving out of my parents place until, you know, she passed. It’s kind of morbid, but I ain’t in no rush for her to die or anything.”

  I shook my head. “No, it makes complete sense. I get it.”

  “I would have told you about it eventually, you know.”

  “Blaine, you don’t need to tell me every little detail. I’m not going to get mad at you for it.”

  He sighed. “Yeah, but somehow things seem to sneak up on us when we least expect it, and it becomes a bigger deal than it should be.

  “You’re right about that one,” I muttered.

  “So, can we stop trying to make a big deal out of the shit that shouldn’t bother us as much as it does? I mean, I know we may
fail at it a bunch of times, but I’m tired of nit picking all this shit and just want to have a good time.”

  I leaned up and placed a quick kiss on his lips. “I guess I can try that. For you.”

  “Get a room, Crabtree!” someone yelled from the fire.

  Blaine laughed, shaking his head. “Should we go sit with our friends now?”

  I nodded. “That sounds like a plan.”

  Chapter 11

  After another week of cotillion practice and Brittany was still acting sour. I knew I had to do something, but I didn’t know what.

  “I’m telling you, Sawyer, these high school chicks are vicious. I think they’re even worse than they were up in the suburbs.”

  Sawyer and I were supposed to be having a study date at the Student Union, but we ended up doing more talking than we did working most of the time. That definitely didn’t bode well with midterms coming up.

  “Well, honey, it is the south. These debutantes know how to verbally kick anyone’s ass. They learned it from their mamas in the womb.” He crossed one leg over the other.

  “You’re not helping,” I hissed.

  He rolled his eyes. “If you spent as much time studying as you did worrying about everyone else, you’d have straight A’s by now. Maybe you should look into counseling, then you can ace those classes, and free yourself up to analyze and figure out people’s problems.”

  I tossed a pen at him. “Smart ass.”

  He dodged the pen. “Just an idea. What’s your cousin’s problem now with the girls at cotillion, since I know you’re going to eventually tell me anyway.”

  I huffed. “It’s less than two months away, and she doesn’t have an escort. I guess it’s some big deal for the girl to have this great escort, and her former BFF has this football player. She’s been rubbing it in Britt’s face, and it just makes me want to punch the little bitch.” I hadn’t realized my hands were balled into fists until I felt my nails prick my palms.

  Sawyer laughed. “Honey, you don’t need to tell me all the nitty gritty about cotillion. You know I’m a southern boy.”

  He sighed. “But if all you needed was an escort, why didn’t you say so in the first place?”

  I cocked an eyebrow. “Are you offering up your services.”

  He shook his head. “I ain’t no escort, and your cousin and I probably have similar taste in men.”

  I rolled my eyes. “Well then how are you suggesting that you can help?”

  “My little brother owes me one. Now, he’s just a small town boy and kinda moody, but he does play baseball and has the whole brooding, boy band look going for him.”

  I crossed my arms over my chest. “So your brother would be willing to escort a girl for cotillion that he’s never met just because he owes you one?”

  Sawyer twirled his pen. “I found some dirty magazines in his room.”

  “And?”

  Sawyer raised his eyebrows. “They were my magazines, if you catch my drift.”

  “Oh, so he likes...”

  Sawyer shook his head. “I don’t know if he does or doesn’t, but he’d do anything to keep me from telling our parents, or anybody else for that matter.”

  I let out a deep breath. “Well I guess it’s something.”

  “And something’s better than nothing, my dear.”

  ***

  I had to speed to get Britt from school and make it to the country club on time for practice. At least my car was dent-free thanks to Bubba Sinclair. I admit that I didn’t fully trust the guy, but he seemed to take good care of my baby.

  As soon as Britt got in my car, she gave the worst fake cough I’d ever heard. “Oh, man, Lib, I’m feeling terrible.” She did the stupid, little fake cough again.

  I rolled my eyes. “You’re not getting out of practice, especially not with that bullshit acting.”

  “Why do we need to practice anyway? It’s stupid. And it’s dance practice today, which means I’ll be sitting on the sidelines looking like an idiot. Especially if Ms. Thibodaux decides she wants to use me for an example again and try to dance with me.”

  I tried to stifle my giggle, but was unsuccessful and Britt glared, crossing her arms over her chest and refused to talk to me for the rest of the ride. Which meant that I didn’t get to tell her about her surprise.

  She moped and got out of the car. She moved slower than a snail through the parking lot. I kept searching for Sawyer’s car but didn’t see it. I was going to kill him if his brother bailed on Britt. I knew a thing or two about disappointment, and I did not want to see my cousin go through all of the same bullshit I went through in high school.

  “Oh look, Britt’s here, alone. Again,” one of the girls in a circle with other debutantes said, loud enough for Britt to hear.

  Her friends all laughed and I noticed that one of them was her supposed best friend, Sarah, who was hanging on the arm of a big moose of a guy in a letterman jacket. The guy had a look on his face that said he was bored out of his mind with his slack jaw and eyes that looked everywhere but at his girlfriend.

  “Hey, Britt, has your escort texted you?” I yelled.

  A few girls turned their heads toward us and Britt groaned, elbowing me in the side. “What are you doing?” she asked through gritted teeth.

  “Helping you out,” I said and glanced down at my phone where I saw a text from Sawyer. It was time to shine.

  The doors whooshed open and a few girls gasped, their mouths practically gaping open. I turned towards their stares and saw Sawyer standing in the doorway next to a guy that was at least six inches taller than him with copper colored hair and a body that was almost too good to belong to a high school man. It was either his little brother, or he did one hell of a job finding someone to play him.

  Sawyer saw us and waved, nudging his brother to follow him toward us.

  “Oh my god, Libby” Britt tugged on my elbow.

  “Hey, I did better than I thought for your escort, didn’t I?”

  She slid behind me. “You didn’t tell me that you knew Seth Blanchard.”

  “Well, I don’t exactly know him, but his brother is my friend Sawyer.”

  “He’s like a God in man’s clothing. The best thing that ever came out of DuPont.”

  “It’s a good thing that he’s your escort then.”

  Sawyer and Seth stopped in front of us. Sawyer was beaming, and Seth pushed his shaggy hair out of his eyes. “Hey, Lib. Hey, Britt. This is my brother, Seth.”

  Seth stuck his hand out. “Pleasure to meet you, ma’am.” He shook my hand firmly, then focused on Britt.

  “And you must be Brittany. I looked you up on my phone before we got here, all Parrish catcher, nice.” His smile was genuine as he looked down at my little cousin whose face was as red as a tomato.

  “It ain’t nothing when you have a team of half-wits.”

  He laughed. “No shit on that one. You’d think that someone in a small town could play some baseball.”

  “They’re more concerned about their hair than their pitch sometimes.”

  Seth shook his head, stuffing his hands in his pockets. “Well, Miss Debutante, I think we’re going to get along just fine.” He crooked his arm. “Care to introduce me to these other debs and try not to embarrass me too much?”

  Britt smile broadened. “I’ll try, but I can’t promise nothing.”

  And just like that they were off, mingling with the other girls and their escorts who acted like they were Britt’s new best friend.

  Sawyer elbowed me. “Maybe my brother really was just holding those magazines for a friend.”

  I watched as Britt and Seth effortlessly talked to each other and fit together as if they belonged. Maybe things would finally look up for her, and she’d stop complaining about Cotillion.

  “So, does this mean we can get out of here? Too many GRITS in one room gives me heart palpitations,” Sawyer said.

  “What the hell is GRITS?” I asked.

  “Girls raised in the south. How
have you lived here this long and not heard that expression?”

  I shrugged. “I’m learning slowly.”

  “Well, if you’re going to end up being a southern belle, marrying that man candy of yours, you’d better start learning,” Sawyer joked.

  “I’m not marrying Blaine,” I snapped, harsher than I intended.

  “Whoa! Are things still awry in paradise?” Sawyer raised an eyebrow.

  “No. It’s just, we aren’t to that point yet in our relationship where we are talking about marriage and all of those things. It took long enough for him to actually commit to me, and I don’t want to screw things up trying to talk about china patterns.”

  “Don’t look now,” Sawyer muttered out of the side of his mouth. “But a certain blonde hellcat is looking our way.”

  Of course I had to look if he was going to say it that way.

  Nikki stood on the other side of the room, her eyes quickly flitting away and back toward the brunette she was talking to.

  I wanted to approach her. To have the guts to walk up to her and ask her why she was staring in my direction, but of course I didn’t have any sort of ability to do that. My feet felt like they were glued to the floor. I would need a hell of a lot of liquid courage before I ever approached her and told her what I thought.

  “What do you think she’s saying? I bet it’s something like ‘that bitch who stole my man and her fag are here. I need to go rub something in mud to express my feelings’.” He laughed.

  I shook my head. “That doesn’t even make any sense.”

  He shrugged. “It doesn’t need to. It’s a guess and I can guess whatever I want.”

  Sawyer leaned back, cocking an eyebrow. “Whatcha being so sassy for, Miss Libby?”

  “Sorry, I’m just high strung at the practices. It’s like reliving high school all over again and I hated high school.”

  “Yeah, must be tough being a pretty young blonde girl.”

  I gently shoved his shoulder. “Please. I’m young and blonde but I was nothing pretty, especially in high school. My graduating class was over one-thousand and I just faded in the crowd. Well, not exactly faded, more like towered over everyone so the girls called me Big Bird.”